I suppose this is a fitting day for my first post to this blog, since it is my first full day in Scotland. I arrived in Edinburgh yesterday afternoon, flying from Frankfurt, Germany. As I suspect they might say over here, the flights were "a bit choppy." We had strong headwinds and were delayed both flying into London Heathrow and then from there on into Edinburgh. Plus British Airways didn't quite manage to get my checked bags onto the flight to Edinburgh, so I was lacking some things last night. However, the bags were delivered during the night, so all is well now.
I did have an interesting experience here yesterday (top photo). Prince Charles was at St. Giles' Cathedral for some discussions and ceremonies regarding the new Scottish Parliament, and I had a brief opportunity to shake his hand an chat with him, as well as get some pretty good photos. Lisa definitely wished that she had been here for that, as she has always been interested in the Royal Family.
Before I go on I must say that the first part of my trip was a delightful nearly 9 days in Germany, at the HL7 meeting in Cologne from Sunday through Friday, and then I had a wonderful time staying with my friends , Thomas and Angelika Wetter, near Heidelberg (Leutershausen). I have much more to say about all of that, and I will try to do so soon, but I don't really have the time to do all of it now.
On Monday Thomas and Angelika went with me to Ellerstadt where I had an opportunity to visit with some of the Hausam's and relatives in Germany (bottom photo). I'll add more details on that, too, as soon as I can.
I'm off to Glasgow for tonight, and then on to Shiel Bridge tomorrow and to the beginning of my hike on Friday!
Rob
